Load supporting pallet



June 2'8, 1960 c. AKE TRAPP LOAD SUPPORTING PALLET Filed June 1, 1956IlfuHrILmlllLlrr M n 2.1L

P www rn me# Vo/K NA/ hM/m /Wnn C United States Patent O 2,942,825 LOADSUPPORTING PALLET Carl ke Sigurdsvagen 27, Bromma, 'Sweden Filed June 1,1956,75. No.ss's,'1so Claims priority, application Sweden June 10, 19551 claims. (ci. :4s-1z0) The present invention relates .to a loadsupporting pallet consisting of an upper board layer, a lower boardlayer and spacer members inserted between said layers. Y

In assembling such pallets it is known to use nails, rivets or bolts,which often project wholly through the members laid upon each other.Said connecting members usually do not protect the boards -from beingsplit due to drying of .the wood or rough handling, but on the contrarythey often contribute to splitting on account of their wedge action. Ithas been suggested to prevent splitting by wrapping the boards with ironbands, but after a relatively slight upsetting of the wood at the edgesof the boards due to careless handling, said bands become inoperative,and moreover such band clouts often cause damages to the load.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks andto provide a load supporting pallet,

which is rigid and .can stand rough treatment without the boards thereinbeing split,V which has no Ametallic members projecting [from the woodof the pallet and capable of catching the load or `the surface on whichthe pallet is placed, and which pallet also is easy to assemble and issimple and cheap as `regards the design of .the strengthening andconnecting members.

According to the invention'said objects are attained thereby that astiiening member for a lower 'layer board, which memberconsists ofa rod,pin, bolt or similar extending straightly and horizontallyy within abore or groove in the board and having its ends adapted for engagementwith the ylateral parts of "the board, is held 4together with .an upperlayer board or an upper layer stringer by means :of a verticalconnecting member, which encloses or is attached in any other way tothe'middle of said stiiening member and which extends upwardly through avertical bore to an yupper supporting or abutting member, preferably inthe shape of a pin or a washer, yto which member said connecting memberis attached, eg. by being bent over .the same.

Some embodiments of a pallet having Ireinforcing and connecting membersaccording to invention will be more closely described hereinbelow withreference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows a. preferredembodiment in a vertical section taken parallelly to the boards. Fig. 2is a detail of another embodiment, shown in section taken at rightangles to the boards. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View of stillanother embodiment.

The pallet shown in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of an upper board layer, uponwhich the moved load should be placed, a lower board layer resting on.the ground, and a number of spacer members in the shape of blocks 11interposed therebetween. The blocks serve to make room between the boardlayers yfor the forks of a fork truck, by means of which .the pallet islifted when moved. The lower board layer consists of parallel boards 13,usually three in number, which extend along the longer sides of thepallet and between them. The upper board layer consists of boards 15extending parallelly to the lower layer boards. These boards may be -iveor seven in number,

ice

and there is a board located exactly above each one of the lower layerboards. Stringers '17 extend below and across the upper layer boards inorder to connect them in the lateral direction. Preferably, there arethree l stringers, one at each end of the pallet and one midway betweenthe ends. Blocks 1&1 are arranged between the lower layer boards and thestringers. Ihe blocks are preferably made of wood, may be square orround in a horizontal cross section and are approximately as long and aswide as the width of ythe lower layer boards 113 or of stringersV 17, oroften somewhat smaller. -Where the lower boards cross the stringers, avertical bore =19 goes straight through the upper board, the Stringer,the block and the lower board. Located in said'bore is the member -forconnecting the diierent parts of the pallet,

which member will be more closely described below.

At the bore 19 the lower board 13 is stitfened by a rigid pin 21inserted into a bore yat right angles to the iibre direction of the woodand extending between the edge faces of the board and parallelly to thehorizontal ilat sides thereof. The pin 21, which may consist of aV roundiron Wire of a diameter of a quarter of an inch, has yan upset head atone end, which is driven into the wood, and is clinched or riveted overa washer at its other end. Said pin holds the boa-rd together in thewidth direction, stiiens the cross section against bending and alsorein- .forces the board against shearing stresses. Therefore, the boardis prevented from splitting when the pallet is roughly treated, or isheld together with a strength merely' slightly reduced when the boardhas already been split,

" viz., by a fourfold action of the iron pin', said actionconsistingtherein that it counteracts: (l) stresses striving to pull.the right-handV board halt in Fig. 1 straight to the right in ordertosplit the board, (2) stresses striving to bend the right-hand part ofthe board upwardly or downwardly relatively to the left-hand part inorder to brake .the board about its center line, (3) stresses strivingyto raise or llower the right-hand part of .the board relatively to theleft-hand part in order to shear off the board vertically, and (4)stresses striving to displace a part of the board in its longitudinaldirection along a split separating said par-t from the rest of .theboard; With regard to the said bending stresses, which often are thedominating ones, the pin is preferably given a rectangular crosssection, the greater dimension being in the height direction.

The vertical connecting member consists of a thick wire 25 which is bentdouble and lfrom below inserted into the bore 19 with its branchesextending .on different sides of the pin Z1, so ythat .the latter isembraced by .the bend of the Wire. The stiffness of the pin 21 causes,.that the forces vare `distributed over the. whole width of the board 13and that lthe Wire 25 is held taut.

In addition to the above-mentioned stiiening and connecting members,nails, dented plates etc. may be used in .order to strengthen the palletIfurther, when required. Even the Stringer 17 may be held together by apin extending between its edge faces. If said pin extends across .thevertical .bore 19, the wire 25 may .be bent over the same.

In case .the upper boards or .the stringers do not have any stileningpins, the pulling force of the wire 25 is transmitted to the upper layerby means of some other metallic supporting or abutting member, whichdistributes the forces over the surface of the wood material. Fig. lshows an example thereof. The upper board 15 has a bore 27 wider thanthe bore 19 through .the block 11 and .the stringer 17. A washer 29 islaid upon the recess thus lformed. The ends of the wire 2S are insertedthrough thev hole of said Washer and bent against the upper .face of thesame. The washer forms an labutment member resting on the Stringer .17,and the upper layer boards are attached to the stringers lby nails,cramp irons Patented June 28, 1960- or similar. y.According to amodification, Ythe bore 27 is made ,so shallow that the recess betweenthe two dilerent bore diameters is situated in the middle of the upperboard 15.

" stilening memberY 21 for holdingtogether the.

in `thetransverse direction may be placed -a groove; in the .free `tlatsideot the'board, insteado-f going through albore therein. Fig, 2 showsan example thereof;

'Ihejlower board 13 has agroove 31 extending transof the pin 21,whicl1may be bent in advance, project into said bores Ybut do--not reach up tothe upper rface of the board-the pinbeing completely enclosed in Athewood.

The vertical connecting member consists of a thick'wire 35 attached 'to-the midpoint ofthe pin 21 by welding .and ythe upperend of whichbeingriveted over a washer. Inthe vpallet shown in Fig 3 theverticalconnecting member consistsof a .tube 37. The pinrZl, which reinlforcesthe lower layer board 13, extends through two diametrically opposite.bores in the wall of said tube close to its lower end. The upper end.of the ,tube holds the upper layer thereby, that it goes through andhas its edge bent over a dented plate 39, interposed in .the jointbetween the upper layer ,board and .the Stringer 17. This designmaltesthe interior of `the tube accessible vfrom above, whereby it ispossible to insert therein a i 3. A load supporting pallet as'claimed inclaim 1, in

which said vertical connecting member isa doubled wire embracing the.pin with its `bent Center part and having its ends clinched over saidapertured plate.

pole pertaining ,to a yfence :or a framework of some kind support forthe load.

Irclaimz Y Y Y Y l. A load supporting pallet, comprising a lower layerof parallel spaced boards, an upper layer of boards parallel Yto saidlower layer boards, wooden'stringers connecting the upper'layer boardstogether, wooden spacer blocks interposed.betweenl the stringers andythe lower layer boardsvr at their crossing poi-nts, avertical borethrough lthe Y.bloclc'the lower layer boar-d, the Stringer andthe Vupperlayer board, a horizontal 4bore through the lower layer V boar-d atright angles tothe grain of the wood of' said board and in communicationwith said vertical bore, a rigid pin inserted in said horizontal boreand having its ends fastened to the side portions of the board, anapertured plate located above said Stringer, anda vertical connectingmember in said vertical bore, the lower end of which is connected to themiddle part of said pin and 'the upperend of which is put through andclinched over .'saidplate. f Y

w 2. A load supporting pallet as claimed in claim l, in

whichY said vertical connecting member'is a tube.

4. A load supporting pallet comprising an upper layer of boards, a lowerlayer of boards, a plurality of spacer members inserted between saidlayer of boards, each spacer member having a'centra vertical .bore andeach lower layer board havinga vertical bore yforming an extension ofthe'boreof the adjoiningrspacer'member and a horizontal boreapproximately midway between and parallel tothe broadtaces of the boardYand crossing Y said vertical bore in the-interior of the board, vaVstiffening member comprising a substantially straight pin inserted insaid horizontal bore, said stiffening member having ends in engagementwiththe edge parts 'of 'the board, a vertical connecting member insertedin the bore of said spacer member, said vertical connecting member beingmade separately 'from said stiffening member and connected -to the same`at the crossing point ofthe vertical bore and the horizontal borewithin the lower layer lboard, and a metallic supporting member arrangedinthe upper layer board and located below the upper face thereof, saidvertical connecting member being fastened to said metallic member tohold the upper and lower layer boards together.

5. A load supporting pallet as claimed in claim 4, in which saidconnecting member comprises a tube having two diametrically oppositeapertures atan end thereof,

. said pin being connected to said tube by beinginserted through saidaperture. Y

Y 6. A loadsupporting pallet a's claimed'in claim l, in which therupperlayer board has a vertical bore of a greater diameter than the bore ofthestringer,V and the apertured plate is shapedas va washer and restsupon the recess 4formed by said `dilerently sized bores.

iAload supporting pallet as 'claimed' in clairn l, in which saidapertured 'plate isa `dente-.d plate clasped between't'he Stringerand'the"upper layer board.

References Cited in the vile'ofrtliis patent UNITED STATES .PATENTS1,230,335 standiford. -'J1ine 1,9, 1917 1,320,753 Hubbard Nev. 4,19192,597,41; vankrimpen May 2o, 1952 Y' Y'FOREIGN PATENTS Y 4,336 GreatBritain of 1901 147,838Y Sweden Nov. 23, 1954 709,051 Great Britain Mayv12, 1954 728,424 Great Britain- Apr. 20, `1-955

